Just Cause 2 to get "a lot" of DLC

By Robert Purchese Published 16 March, 2010

"We're going to have some fun," says dev.

Avalanche Studios has told Eurogamer that although "a lot" of Just Cause 2 DLC is planned, you will have enough on your plate wading through the extra content after the 15 to 20 hour main campaign has finished.

"Yeah, we're going to have some fun with DLC," beamed lead designer Peter Johansson, "but unfortunately I can't talk about the specifics.

"We're going to have a lot of DLC. We'll see what happens," he added with a grin. "DLC is important, but a game like Just Cause 2 can live pretty long because it's not just playing through the story and being done with it - there's the completion rating and playing with friends. That's what we do in the office!"

Johansson said his save file at the time of the interview was 60 per cent complete, a feat that had taken him 55 game hours to accomplish. Finishing the campaign, he explained, represents barely a quarter of what's on offer.

To this end, Avalanche and publisher Square Enix may produce a website to correlate user game-activity, a bit like Rockstar's Social Club for Grand Theft Auto IV.

"I'm not sure what the plans are from Square's side, but we are definitely going to do that for the game; we'll have these metrics, lots of metrics, and everything in as simple a form as we can do," said Johansson.

"In this game it's really fun to track completion rating as well, because this game is going to take people a long time to do!"

The PS3 version of Just Cause 2 allows you to record and upload videos to YouTube, and thus document your wacky stunt-filled adventure. But why did this not appear on Xbox 360?

"It was decided it was going to be an exclusive feature," said Johansson. "You know how it can be in the business."

Just Cause 2 is due for release on 26th March on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The idea is that you, Rico Rodriguez, must bring down the ruler of Panau island by causing as much chaos with your super-powered grappling hook as possible, working for various factions in the process.

It's silly, exaggerated and fun, and Avalanche is happy about that.

"This genre is getting crowded, so you really need to find your own direction and identity. We're not taking ourselves too seriously and a lot of the ideas in Just Cause 2 started out from testing fun ideas. I guess that's down to having freedom as a developer, and that's really fun to work with," said Johansson.

"I want a grappling hook in real life," he quipped. "That would be so cool!"

That tongue-in-cheek approach is reflected in the game's name, Just Cause.

"Sometimes I get people asking me about the political stuff and is this a political statement - maybe we are naive, ha ha, but we didn't think about it like that! We're not trying to do any political statement at all. We're not trying to shove any message down anyone's throat," promised Johansson.

Internet-dive into our Just Cause 2 gamepages below for our considerable coverage so far.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • riz23 #1 2 years ago

    What he should be saying is 'just cause' we can or 'just cause' it's fun. DLC makes sense for a game like this. The first one had a huge playground to do stuff in that was never fully utilised. I understand the world is not as big this time, nevertheless I co0uld imagine all sorts of things you could do in a landscape like that and a bunch of vehicles.

  • crazyhorse174 #2 2 years ago

    Why not just include what you're considering releasing as DLC in the game when it comes out, instead of announcing how you want to expand a game that isnt actually even available yet?

  • Vitor #3 2 years ago

    @crazyhorse174

    Maybe because they're busy finishing the actual game and haven't started working on the DLC yet?

  • Der_tolle_Emil #4 2 years ago

    I'm 1000% sure they already started to work on the DLC, otherwise they would not announce it. Same as every other game.

  • Spekingur #5 2 years ago

    @riz23: The gameworld in Just Cause 2 is said to be the same size as the first one.

  • Darren #6 2 years ago

    I'm looking forward to the full game after completely exhausting the console demos and especially the PC one (thanks to a crafty hack that ups the time limit from 30 minutes to 24 hours... you can finally appreciate the day to night to day cycle!). I doubt anyone will remember it as a classic but based on the demo it looks like being a lot of fun to play and offer plenty of gameplay for your precious cash.

    The only thing that irritated me a little in the demos was the fact that this guy could only use the grappler to climb onto things and couldn't just jump and climb up onto things within arms reach also. Seems an odd oversight to me.

  • riz23 #7 2 years ago

    well thats good news Spekingur :)

  • wizlon #8 2 years ago

    I didn't realise the movie clip thing was PS3 only... I may have to get it on the PS3 instead of the 360 now.

  • Quint2020 #9 2 years ago

    It's the kind of game that DLC makes sense in my opinion, the same can't be said for every genre but stuff like this and Crackdown are excellent opportunities for DLC.

  • Murton #10 2 years ago

    Maybe because they're busy finishing the actual game and haven't started working on the DLC yet?

    The game is finished, it would have been submitted for approval late Jan/early Feb to give enough time for manufacture before release day. People need to realise that console games are generally finished from a dev point of view two months before their street date, which gives them plenty of time to work on a patch/DLC if they want. The only time there's any justification for saying "should have been on the main game" is if it's already on the disc as it would have been complete and present during both submission and manufacture.

  • Jackface #11 2 years ago

    There's really very little entertainment value to be had searching out a billion hidden objects or whatever, so if the majority of their percentage completion is taken up with stuff like that I don't really think aiming for 100% is much of a goal...

    Of course, perhaps all that extra percentage of game is actual side missions and, you know, gameplay. That would be cool.

    Sadly the control scheme is a strange cross between dumbed down too far and not honed enough, so I won't be buying. The inability to scale or even jump over a wall that's just over waist height is ridiculous, not to mention not being able to shoot from a ducking position without standing up. Daft.

  • tachometer #12 2 years ago

    Anyone who's played the demo know if you can tow yourself behind a vehicle with the parachute open? This was one highlight of the first game getting the cars and helicopters to tow you round the island

  • Syrok #13 2 years ago

    Ah, in that case I will just wait for the complete edition that comes out 10 month later.

  • darleysam #14 2 years ago

    Sure would've been nice to be able to record clips on my 360, but hey.

    What's on the multiplayer side of this, does anyone know? I don't think I've heard anything about co-op, right?

  • lavalant #15 2 years ago

    He mentions "playing with friends" but the game has no multiplayer, unless this is a planned DLC package.

  • Madafunkola #16 2 years ago

    @darleysam & lavalent
    Exactly - I'm sure I read that it would have "no mulitplayer AT RELEASE"... this is a second hint at MP DLC, which is fantastic as I can imagine this beeing a hoot in co-op, like Crackdown - on CRACK(down)!

  • BabyJesus #17 2 years ago

    @Darleysam Its single player only.

  • super_monty #18 2 years ago

    Does this mean that Just Cause 2 will be another incomplete game on release.
    I pretty sure that studios are holding stuff back now code so to charge us at a later date, although a fan of the 1st one I will be giving this a miss.

  • dr_faulk #19 2 years ago

    Shades of the latest Prince Of Persia...

  • jambo74 #20 2 years ago

    = Wait for Gold or GOTY version that will be released later.

  • darleysam #21 2 years ago

    OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS! These underhanded ruffians are actually planning downloadable content for their game? Why that's just the kind of evil scheme to make Adolf Hitler flinch!

    edit: Why yes, developers do actually plan, and need to plan these things long before the game comes out. This is to actually make the content easier to integrate into the game. Because they, unlike some, aren't complete idiots.
    Edited by 1 at 16/03/10 @ 16:41

  • vegard #22 2 years ago

    please release some kind of dlc that places huge ramps and stuff all over the map. that would be so much fun

  • Haloboy #23 2 years ago

    The edited version of the demo map has large jumps all over the place. Damn fun they are too, racing up them in an ice-cream van just for lulz.

    10 days to go! Hooo yeaaaaaah!!
    Edited by 1 at 16/03/10 @ 17:30

  • ExplodingClown #24 2 years ago

    So how much is the hapless customer going to have to shell out for "a lot" of DLC?

  • cozeny #25 2 years ago

    Just stick it on the disc you cunts.

    I'm quite happy waiting for the GotY edition of this game, actually, so they've just shot themselves in the foot there.
    Edited by 2 at 16/03/10 @ 18:56

  • VibratingDonkey #26 2 years ago

    Keys to the City mode please. I need that multi-grapple ability. And also for the cable to not snap so easily. In the demo you can't drag one AI controlled vehicle behind another.
    Edited by 2 at 16/03/10 @ 20:25

  • danmachine #27 2 years ago

    "there's the completion rating and playing with friends" errm 2 player co op dlc?

  • Vyggo #28 2 years ago

    "It was decided it was going to be an exclusive feature," said Johansson. "You know how it can be in the business."
    Nice bit of sincerity there, got to respect that.

  • metalangel #29 2 years ago

    Grappling is not nearly as much fun as the previews made it sound. The wire snaps constantly, you can't shoot a gas cylinder and be dragged off by it (you don't have time to grapple it after shooting, and if you grapple before you just tug it towards you before releasing it) and there's no way to get towed behind a car and go parasailing. That and aiming the thing is far too fiddly - the entire police force is shooting you and you are just standing there trying to line up a shot on a church tower or something.

  • sjmlondon #30 2 years ago

    Think I might just cancel my pre-order.

    The novelty of a load more expensive DLC once I've bought the game is beginning to wear thin.

    I'm sure a lot of us are fed up of DLC that consists of:
    1: Unlocking 'additional' content that was already on the disc eg Resident Evil's Versus mode, the stuff on Bioshock 2 or the Star wars Characters on Soul Calibur IV.
    2: The promise of 3 new maps in a map pack, one of which is just a tarted up version of one from a previous editions eg Gears or Call of Duty.
    3: A new costume for your character to play the same game. Why bother.
    4: DLC that is realeased so soon after the game launch that it must have been developed alongside the game and should have been on the retail version in the first place.
    5: Overally expensive DLC for poor extras, Assassin's Creed 2, Stranglehold etc

    There has been some decent content out there extending the gameplay of popular games such as for Burnout Paradise, Resident Evil (flashback episodes), GTA, Fable II and many others and when it is done well it is appeciated and deserves to sell in vaste numbers but it mustn't be seen as a quick cash in or developers / publishers or they will finish off the golden goose that DLC can be.

  • ST.. #31 2 years ago

    Not to spoil your fun but 'Just Cause' was a US military operation. That is where the series takes its name from.

    [link url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion _of_Panama
    ]http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stat...[/link]